Sporting Witness
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Sporting Witness
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back...
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675 episodi
The first time women played basketball at the Olympics
In 1976, women's basketball made its Olympic debut.
Men's basketball had been part of the Olympic programme since 1936, yet it took another 40 y...
When Hearts’ dream season turned sour
In 1986, Edinburgh football club Heart of Midlothian, known as Hearts, came within touching distance of glory.
Just a few years earlier, the cl...
When the NFL came to Europe
In 1991, the NFL decided to create an international league of American football teams.
Six new teams were formed in the USA, one in Canada and...
The start of the Mexican Wave
On 15 October 1981, at a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees in the USA, American cheerleader Krazy George Henderson...
Nadal describes his historic Wimbledon win over Federer
Rafael Nadal was known for being one of the best clay court tennis players but, ever since he started playing at four years old, it was his ambition t...
The making of West Germany’s iconic 1990 football shirt
In July 1990, West Germany won the World Cup for the third time, beating Argentina 1-0 in Rome.
The shirt the victorious players were wearing...
Rebuilding Ronaldo’s knee
In 2000, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo Nazario, known as Ronaldo, suffered a career-threatening knee injury whilst playing for Inter Milan at the age o...
Brazil 1-7 Germany: Brazil's heaviest defeat
Host nation Brazil were World Cup favourites in 2014, but the German team dismantled Brazil's defense and spirit by scoring five goals in 29 minutes.<...
Pickles the dog finds the World Cup trophy
Pickles the dog became an unlikely hero before the 1966 World Cup when he found the stolen Jules Rimet trophy on his daily walk. Stardom beckoned as h...
When Diana Ross missed a penalty at the World Cup
In 1994, the USA hosted the FIFA World Cup for the first time. The choice of host nation was a controversial one because, at that time, the US didn't...
Mexico’s Cachirules scandal
In 1988, a scandal took place in Mexican football, which saw the men’s team banned from the 1990 World Cup.
Mexico had fielded over-age players...
Shakhtar Donetsk win the UEFA Cup
When Shakhtar Donetsk won the UEFA Cup in 2009, it was meant to be the start of a new chapter for independent Ukraine. However, when war broke out in...
Leicester City’s Premier League win
In 2016, Leicester City pulled off one of football’s greatest shocks.
The club won the English Premier League despite starting the season as 50...
Nigeria’s 12 year wait for gold
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 the Nigerian 4x400m relay team surpassed expectations by winning silver in dramatic fashion.
But, in the years t...
The Juventus match-fixing scandal
In 2006, Italy's most successful team, Juventus, were relegated from the Italian top division due to their involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing...
Making Escape to Victory
The 1981 film Escape To Victory is a World War Two tale of a football match in a prisoner of war camp in Nazi Germany starring Sylvester Stallone, Mic...
The Fabiola Rule
In the 1990s, rollerblading had separate competitions for men and women. That changed in 2000, when the two were combined into one mixed competition....
International football's biggest ever beating: 31-0
In April 2001, the small island nation of American Samoa took on Australia in the World Cup qualifiers. You could only play for the team if you held a...
'Fan man' crashes heavyweight championship
In November 1993, James Miller interrupted the highly anticipated world heavyweight championship rematch between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe. <...
First official penalty shootout
On 5 August 1970, a pre-season match between second division Hull City and European giants Manchester United changed football forever.
With the...
The Czech Republic at Euro 96
In 1996, the Czech Republic played in their first major football tournament since the country's formation three years earlier. The unfancied team went...
The first Women’s Six Nations Rugby Championship
Nathalie Amiel was a star of French rugby for more than fifteen years, from when she started playing internationally aged 15.
She was part of...
The English samurai
In 1977, Michael Jay from England becomes the first foreigner to take part in the Soma Nomaoi which celebrates classical martial arts and military hor...
Emil Zatopek at the Helsinki Olympics
In 1952, the Summer Olympics took place at the height of the Cold War in Helsinki, Finland.
Czechoslovak army officer Emil Zatopek achieved a un...
The X Games
In 1995, Canadian BMXer Jay Miron took part in the first ever Extreme Games.
A celebration of action sports like skateboarding and BMXing, the...
The split in darts
In the 1970s and 80s the sport of darts was booming in the UK. It was on TV almost every week and the sport’s stars were household names.
But...
Sibling success on the slopes
In 2003, skiing history was made when Croatian siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelić became the first sister-brother duo to win World Cup Alpine slalom r...
Playing rugby during Syria’s civil war
In 2004 a rugby union team was formed in the Syrian capital Damascus. It consisted of British and French players working in the country, and one Syria...
India’s 1948 hockey gold medal
In 1948, London hosted the first Olympic Games after World War Two, but when it came to the hockey final, it was newly independent India who won gold,...
Senna’s first Formula 1 win
At the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1985, three-time Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna won his first race.
In torrential rain, Senna dominated...
The Nasa swimsuit that rocked the 2008 Olympics
Imagine creating a swimsuit so good it would have to be banned.
That's what Jason Rance and his team at Speedo did ahead of the Beijing Olympic...
Football's Next Star
In 2009, British 17-year-old Ben Greenhalgh won a reality TV show called Football's Next Star, earning him a six-month contract to play for Italian ch...
ProZone: football's data revolution
In the 1990s, businessman Ramm Mylavaganam created a new way to analyse football matches, which would change how managers and coaches saw the game for...
A Cold War hockey match
In August 1961, the Soviet Union began building a wall between East and West Berlin.
Weeks after construction began, the Scotland international...
Afghanistan’s international ski scene
How an international skiing scene developed in the mountains of Bamiyan province in 2011.
Long: In 2011, the rugged mountains of Bamiyan Provin...
Nigeria at the first Women’s World Cup
The Nigerian national women’s football team were the first African team to reach the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup Tournament in China in 1991.
The Premier League’s first female photographer
In 1986, Magi Haroun began her career in football photography. She would become the first female photographer in the Premier League in the 1990s.
2005 Ashes: Pratt runs out Ponting
In the 2005 Ashes series in England, substitute fielder Gary Pratt grabbed the headlines when he ran out Australian captain Ricky Ponting in the fourt...
Malice at the Palace
On 19 November 2004, a heated NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons spiralled into one of the most infamous brawls in sport's histor...
Colonel Gaddafi’s son plays in Italy’s top football league
In 2003, Italian top-flight side Perugia made an unusual signing: Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
It was seen as...